Speaking just hours after the meeting, Marinakis insisted that “there is no longer any excuse to close roads again”, arguing that the government had previously shown tolerance in order to defuse tensions. “It appeared that what we said, we meant,” he said.
In an interview with SKAI, the government spokesman claimed that the government had a plan in place and had proceeded with measures and interventions that, according to him, had not been implemented for decades. He stressed that “we are not at five past, we are at fifteen past”, characterising any new blockades of the road network as unacceptable.
Marinakis said that the Greek police have been fully informed of the government’s position and that clear instructions have already been given not to allow road closures to be repeated. While he said he was awaiting the farmers’ decisions and expressed the view that there would be no further escalation, he sent a clear message about how the state would respond if blockades were resumed.
At the same time, he argued that the Mitsotakis government has supported the primary sector more than any other government, within the limits of the country’s fiscal capabilities, not only during periods of mobilisation but over time. He acknowledged the OPEKEPE affair as a serious problem, admitting that delays in addressing irregularities had led to subsidies being paid to farmers who were not entitled to them.
In his closing remarks, Marinakis underlined that state support is not unlimited, as it comes from taxpayers’ money. He also claimed that Greece has secured one of the cheapest agricultural electricity tariffs in Europe and referred again to VAT reductions on fertilisers, animal feed and agricultural machinery as evidence of government support for farmers.
The meeting at the Maximos Mansion, which lasted almost four and a half hours, left farmers dissatisfied. According to their representatives, the discussion was limited to technical specifications and did not alter the basic framework of government policy. Development Minister Costas Tsiaras stated after the meeting that the government was only prepared to discuss technical issues and that the overall framework was clear.
Farmers reported that the government once again invoked budgetary constraints, rejecting substantial interventions in production costs. Representatives Rizos Maroudas and Socrates Aliftiras said that promises remained vague and that there was a complete refusal of key demands, such as income compensation and the rejection of mandatory sheep pox vaccination. In light of this, farmers are returning to the blockades to collectively decide on the continuation and form of their mobilisations, stressing that they cannot survive under the terms proposed by the government.
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